JesseNight

It can probably be done with tiles, depending on how good you want the font to be. You could use some quarter rounded ones on those round edges of letters but at the cost of having small openings (and a plate behind not to make them stand out).

Looks awesome! Any chance of instructions becoming available for this? And who needs stickers for a Blacktron logo when it is so simple with a few triangular tiles?

Yeah on Lego.com here (in EU) it's indeed retired, I think since the new year. Funny enough, 2 of the biggest local toy stores still seem to have major stock of the model. Seeing how fast some other Icons sold (the ECTO-1 was hard to get, the BTTF Time Machine I've never even seen at an actual local store), I am surprised considering the affordable price and the good value what we get for it. Even at 10% discounted price, they still got full racks. Can't wait to see what the 10391 is gonna be. Honestly I haven't been a fan of the old Renegade (I really dislike the main cockpit being off center and the rather simple design without much storage) and I'd be surprised if they redid a second Blacktron set. Personally I would really enjoy a new SP Mission Commander though... Loved its unique cockpit & hidden rover mechanic, and maybe with modern techniques we can do this without sacrificing the entire middle section's usability.

Thanks for clearing that up. Seems I did read too fast on the round plate, and while the Technic pins are called mold variants, as long as I know that sellers take entirely different part numbers with different functions seriously, I should be okay. Funny thing about 4085... I hated the thick ones as a kid, that wouldn't allow certain common used tools (like the minifigure portable radio) to be rotated while in the clip But yeah I see the point, those are all minor variants considered the same number with a/b/c/d suffix.

[Edit] Mold variants question is solved, next questions are here. I've finished up some wanted lists and have been wanting to place an order for a few hundred bricks over multiple shops on Bricklink for some time already. I struggle with some worries, most of all how many shops state in their terms that they don't differentiate mold variants of the same parts. I've tried to contact a few but I get stuck getting vague answers that don't give me a whole lot of clarity. The main issue I'm having is... Where do they draw the line on what's considered a mold variant? For example: a round 1x1 plate exists as 4073 with a closed stud, or 85861 with an open stud. Bricklink calls them mold variants of each other, but I wouldn't order open studs if I didn't need those for very specific uses. Same problem with Technic pins. They come as 3673 without friction ridges, 2780 with short friction ridges, and 4459 with long friction ridges (older ones) and are all considered mold variants, but each have very specific uses. Obviously I wouldn't ask this if I didn't indeed need to be sure to get the exact variants I need in these cases (and a few more). I'm still somewhat new on Bricklink and while the Wanted lists system is great, I've been spending insane amounts of time already managing lists, finding decent deals, and asking questions. Time I'd rather spend building stuff, that is

I don't know if it differs per manual... But when I look at the BTTF DeLorean, a 2022 model that mixes a lot of light gray, dark gray, black, some white, and some metallic silver and flat silver pieces here and there, and all of that on a (guess what?) gray background... I cannot complain. White is... really white. Light gray is just light gray. Dark gray is dark with a black outline. And black is really black with a white outline. And knowing the DeLorean car fairly well, I can tell any other color has no business even being there Flat silver and metallic silver are a bit hard to tell apart from each other on small pieces in the instruction picture with no other info available.They are however given a sparkle on the parts needed picture. First time building a set it's easy, based on the bag number it came from. In case of parts from the same bag that can be mixed up, the instructions seem to have a note when a special color (like metallic) is used. But instructions where it's obvious based on bag numbers do not, therefore I tend to add a note (like a post-it) in the instructions on first build so I won't be confused later. So far only very few cases where it wasn't obvious to me based on how things are supposed to be looking though.

That alternate builds story is very clever indeed. I really miss almost all bigger builds coming with an alternate build like they used to.

That's true. Thinking back, in the mid to late 80s we had only 6 colors for the majority of parts: white, yellow, red, blue, gray and black. There were a few exceptions like green for flowers, trees and baseplates, brown for minifigure hairstyles, and dark gray for railway sleepers. Today it's totally crazy (in a good way), but what instructions I have seen so far were still fairly decent at showing the difference, like a sparkle for metallic or flat silver parts or a note under the instruction which non-standard color to use. It might be different on models that use all shades of a single color, like the Van Gogh painting with all the different blues in it.

I suppose I grew up with the "spot the differences" game although more complex Technic builds did already have the used parts per instruction thing, so I do see your point there. Still I feel like the crazy color variations shouldn't be necessary (or at least kept to a minimum), considering how clear modern instructions really are with the used parts listed and even highlighted in the picture where they go.

This is one of few things with modern Lego that really bugs the hell outta me. I recently bought a 10300 Back To The Future Time Machine as my first modern Lego experience since 1995. It's a beautiful model, but the amount of ketchup and mustard stains (took over this term straight from the old PC building colored cables mess) makes me cry. Even more considering it to be an 18+ display model, and a lot of it being visible when displaying it with doors open or in the hover mode of the second movie. Back in the 80s/90s, this was never done and colors were accurate and consistent for the most part. Car undercarriages were mostly black and gray and even with more confusing instructions, I never encountered anyone who had a problem building it. "but having to dismantle a build if you used the wrong colour on the inside and only realise when you have the wrong colour left for the outside" I don't want to offend anyone, but I see this being said a lot and it feels like people are too much in a rush when it comes to a hobby. The beauty of Lego is that a mistake like a wrong brick is completely forgiven and completely repairable without any lasting damage. And the building itself used to be the fun. I have to admit though, that things did change a bit when it comes to the amount of different colors...

On the "Buy Wanted Lists" page you can hit the checkbox of multiple wanted lists on the left section, then hit the Apply button underneath. If you're already down to 3 stores you may just wanna make a fresh start with multiple Wanted lists, because (depending on their size) the result can be very different. It will always find the best overall options with the least possible stores, even if that means paying a bit more for a part (that you'd otherwise spend on extra shipping and extra hassle). However I'm fairly new with Bricklink so I may not know everything yet either :)

Ohhh, I'm looking at 8880 Supercar right now, it was my second last set and it always had a place on a shelf ever since, but if I get into this again, I gotta get a closed display case bc it bugs me that I never get all the dust from all the corners. My last set was the 8480 Space Shuttle, think it was from 1996. Beautiful set but I remain a bit biased towards cars I'm looking into figuring out Bricklink ordering now, still a few things that confuse me or that seem off but I don't wanna highjack this topic to get deep into that. It's keeping me hesitant a bit, I guess I'm still looking for a good place to start.

Ohhhh that looks very good too! It's like being a kid again and looking at that big set that's out of reach Haven't been building since classic Technics of the early to mid 1990s so I'd have to get about every part. And with such a high quantity of parts that's gonna be quite some work figuring out what to get where and if I can even get everything to begin with.

This is a truly amazing model! Not sure if I can ever make it but one can hope :) I'm just wondering which wheels were used on the above pic of @langko's model, that I also see on @LvdH's white one? They look a lot like the Bugatti ones but can't find a model that had these in black, are they a custom paint job? I really love this color combination!

Hi! I'm Jesse and I'm from Belgium (originally from the Netherlands). I grew up with late 80s and early 90s Lego in my childhood. My initial interest was mainly the Space theme, during the Futuron (still have 6990 the first monorail set, I love it) and first Blacktron, Space Police, and M-Tron themes. After that my interest shifted towards Technics (models 8880 Super Car and 8480 Space Shuttle being my pride and joy at the time), and Model Team (for the younger people, those were the limited scale models back then). In the late 90s, priorities shifted and I haven't been doing much with it anymore, but I've always kept everything stored away with no intention of ever getting rid of it. Lately I'm having some more free time on my hands again and while browsing for a Lego set for a family member's kid some time ago, curiosity to today's Lego sets came up again. Being from an area when visible studs were pretty much the norm, I hardly recognize any of it anymore. I was a bit overwhelmed by the quantities of amazing models. As a cars & Technics fan, sets like the Chiron and the Sián stood out, but also Lego Icons like the Ghostbusters Ecto-1 and the Back To The Future DeLorean (both major icons from my childhood). The next thing I ended up finding were the Rebrickable website and this one. While MOCs are not new to me, I had no idea that such large communities existed around it nowadays and how many advanced models there were to be found. I've seen some models that cast a pretty big shade over original Lego ones, and I feel like a little kid again dreaming from that one big set that I just cannot have... just with bigger and far more expensive dreams now considering I don't have any modern Lego to begin with. So while I don't have anything to show (yet), I am looking into whether it's gonna be doable to get into making some display model MOCs. With no modern bricks to begin with, so far collecting parts from various sources appears a hell and I can't imagine spending hundreds only to be stuck not finding some essential last part...